I can't thank you all enough for the positive feedback I got for the first chapter. I tried to take in as many suggestions as possible so I hope you enjoy Chapter 2.
Naruto Phenex – Chapter 2 Changes
'The cool breeze across my face, the trees swaying side to side in a rhythmic fashion, the bright red sky shinning beautifully and sound of nature, ahh this is the life.' Thought one now 8 year old Naruto Phenex, standing at 4' 6", wearing the same attire but instead of light blue shirt he's wearing a dark red shirt and instead of shorts he's wearing grey trousers. He can be seen relaxing the day away in the garden, no responsibilities, and no chores, nothing, just him and nature. At least that's what he would be thinking a few years ago. 'Why did things have to change?'
(Flashback)
"What!?" Bellowed one surprised Naruto when he heard the announcement. Everyone turned to look at Naruto's surprised and shocked expression.
"What's wrong Naruto?" asked a bewildered Lord Phenex.
"What's wrong? You just decided who I'm going to spend my life with." Taking some calm breaths he asks "Why me?"
Rias being quiet the whole time looked offended by that comment. She puffs her cheeks out and gives him a glare. "What do you mean by 'Why me?'"
Naruto realizing what she meant, he raised his hand up to surrender "That's not what I meant. I've got nothing against you, it's just...this situation I guess."
"Naruto" He looks over at his mother who's staring at him intently. "You have a chance here to unite two of the major clans, don't waste this opportunity. We're placing a lot of responsibility on you I know that but trust us." She finishes with a small smile.
"Oh yeah, marrying me off to a stranger...I feel so much better now." Naruto spoke under his breath to himself.
Lady Gremory decided to add something with a playful wink "You never know you two may come to like each more than friends."
Seeing Naruto about to respond Lord Gremory quickly cut in. "Rias-chan, why don't you take Naruto-kun on a tour around the estate?"
Her face brightening up with the opportunity to spend some time with a potential friend, Rias got up and skipped over to Naruto and dragged him out the room by his arm. "Come on Naruto-kun, I've got loads of places to show you!"
"No, wait! Gah! I wasn't finished, HELP!" cried a hysteric Naruto, being pulled out the room by a surprisingly strong grip.
"Aww young love!" the adults all shared a laugh but no one noticed the scowl on Riser's face during the discussion.
Break
Enthusiasm doesn't do this girl justice. Rias has been dragging Naruto around the estate since they left the meeting and even with all of his flailing and ranting he couldn't get her to let go of him. When they got to a long hallway which he presumed lead somewhere 'exciting' as Rias would put it, she finally let go of him. Walking down the hall she loudly announced "and this is my room..."
"..."
"Where did Naruto-kun go?"
In the Gremory estate garden
"How did I get here!?"
20 minutes later outside Rias's Room
Rias found Naruto huddled in the corner of the garden surrounded by a depressed aura, shrugging it off and dragging him off back to her room with gusto, she guided Naruto inside and he came face to face with something he didn't expect to see in there.
Anime.
Posters of different anime shows all across the walls, plushies of main characters scattered all around the room and even piles of tapes and CD's of animes cluttered in the corner. Well he'll give her an A for effort.
Hearing a cough to the side of him he turned to see Rias staring at him expectantly but only one word came to mind when looking at here. "Otaku..."
It happened so quick, one minute she was standing in front of him the next she ran and climbed under covers while curling into a ball. "You probably think I'm weird, don't you...?" Rias muttered from under the covers.
Yes. Yes he does, but saying that would just upset her more so being the nice guy he is, cheering her up is the next best thing. "I'm not going to lie, I've never met an otaku before so it's kind of different and I've never really got into anime" Rias raised her head from under the covers and stared at him " but I'm probably the laziest person around and I sleep about 15 hours a day so if anything, I'm stranger." Naruto finished with a little laugh at the end.
Staring at Naruto for a few more seconds she finally burst out in to giggles. He was weird but so was she, Rias spent the rest of the day watching anime and talking about her favourite shows.
(Flashback end)
Every other week Naruto visits the Gremory clan, requested by Rias of course, to strengthen the bonds between clans. He would prefer to sleep or relax but spending time there isn't too bad either.
"So this is where you're hiding" Following the voice he saw his mother walking up to him a smile and her hands behind her back. "I do believe your training hasn't finished yet."
Oh yeah did he forget to mention that having a fiancé meant that he was supposed to be powerful enough to protect her from any and all threats. Hard work, something Naruto hates...or just moving in general.
"Urgh do I have to move?" he mumbled out while rolling over on his stomach.
"Up. Just because you absorb everything like a sponge doesn't mean you can slack off. We still don't know why your flames are a different colour or how they differentiate form ours, so training to control it is the smartest approach. You wouldn't want to accidentally hurt Rias-chan now would you?" Lady Phenex said with a sickly sweet smile.
Turns out when he started to learn how to control his abilities the strangest thing happened. He produced black flames. Naruto immediately knew they weren't natural, at first afraid he did something wrong, they seemed to burn longer, hotter and with more intensity.
In his opinion he's got the control down to a T but his mother isn't convinced, she wants to make sure no mishaps occur. She continuously pushes Naruto to his limits, seeing how much black flame he can produce then control it and how many times he can do this in a row. This is quite taxing on him but she won't let up. In other words;
She's a slave driver.
He himself is curious in its capabilities. But his laziness overrides his curiosity. Which brings us to his current predicament; moving.
"Guilt tripping me won't work." He looked up at her, defiance in shown in his eyes.
"Well I guess this is the last time ill cook ramen for diner them." 'Hook, line and sinker' she thought while walking away smirking.
Naruto froze. 'She didn't' He looked at her retreating form, panic flooding his system."I was joking! You don't need to go that far! I'm sorry!"
Break
Arriving at the training field Naruto noticed another occupant already waiting for them. She looked about the same age as Naruto, about 2 inches or so smaller with vibrant red hair and red eyes to match. She wore a simple plain maroon dress with matching shoes. As she looked up her eyes gleamed with joy.
"Naruto-sama!" it didn't take her more then a second to cross the training field and tackle Naruto.
Laughing lightly at her antics, he hugged her back "Hey Kyra-chan."
"Your Queen is lively as ever." Naruto's mother said with a small laugh.
(Flashback 6 months ago)
In a small Town on the country side of Japan, we can see Naruto and Lady Phenex walking at a secluded pace down a quiet street.
"Why are we here again kaa-san?" asked Naruto with a frown. His mother had forbidden him from doing anything that makes him seem lazy. That includes napping, sleeping, snoozing etc.
Don't judge him, Naruto likes to sleep.
His mother looks over at him and says with a smile "Well sooner or later you're coming to the human world; I thought it wouldn't hurt to get a head start."
Naruto nods at her answer and proceeds to quench his boredom by watching his surroundings. The human world, he decided, is plain. Mothers and children walking hand in hand to wherever they're going, red headed girls with tails stealing fruit, a bunch of kids walking to the par-
Wait what.
Looking for the read head again he saw her running down the street with apples in her hand. And she did in fact have a tail, a bushy one at that. Deciding to investigate, he quickly ran after her startling his mother slightly. Seeing her run into the park, Naruto slowed his pace down. Sneaking up to the tree to spy on her, he sees...nothing.
Taking in his surroundings he realized the tree formation looks different than before. That's when it hit him...
He's lost again.
"Dammit! How does this keep happening!?" Rubbing his head in frustration and kicking a nearby rock. "She was right in front of me and I still got lost...I have issues..."
Still cursing under his breath, saying some things a 7 year old shouldn't know, he heard a twig snap. Twisting his head in that direction he noticed the little red head from earlier staring at him with curiosity visible in her eyes.
There was an awkward silence filling the air as they stared intently at each other, seeing that she isn't saying anything it's up to him to start " Yo ho-" "You look funny"
Did she just interrupt me and insult me at the same time? Oh hell no! I'm Naruto Phenex! Nobody makes fun of me! "You're the weir-""You smell funny too"
"What the hell!?" looking rather annoyed, Naruto took a few steps forward "Stop interrupting me!"
"There's no need to shout..." said the upset red head, sniffling with added effect.
"Ah, no, wait, I didn't mean to, I'm sorr-""its okay I forgive you" she interrupted with a smile.
With his eyebrow twitching, Naruto took a long calm breath "Who are you?"
"Kyra" was her short reply. "You?"
"Naruto" he said with a smile, happy things are moving on "What's with the tail?"
At this she looked a little shy or was that fear? Kyra, looking a bit reluctant, walked into the open and showed off her orange ears with white tips and big bushy orange tail, also with a white tip. "I'm a Kitsune."
Ignoring her disheartened tone "Wow, I've never met a Kitsune before." Now stood right in front of her, poking her fluffy ears, startling her slightly with his speed "You look pretty cute like that"
Not noticing what effect that comment had on her, blushing madly and twiddling her fingers together, he heard another voice make itself known "Finally found you young man"
Walking through the bushes strode Lady Phenex, although looking a bit annoyed. No doubt from hiking through the forest while wearing that expensive dress. She then noted another presence beside her son "Oh who do we have here?"
"Her name's Kyra and she's a Kitsune!" Naruto remarked with a smile.
'Kitsune? Strange seeing one here.' That's when she a got good sense of her power. 'Wow pretty impressive, it's nearly on par with Naruto's reserves. No normal Kitsune should have that much power...I wonder...' "Kyra-chan, do you have more than one tail?"
Nodding happily she revealed all her tails "I've got nine!" With extra emphasis she stuck 9 fingers in the air and hopped up and down.
"Kyuubi? They're supposed to be powerful, right?" Naruto asked, stroking one of her nine tails.
"Trained properly they could reach the same level maybe even higher then that of an ultimate class devil." Replied his mother looking at Naruto wondering where he's going with this.
"Cool so I can make her my queen?"
As this was going on, Kyra was confused. People would normally run away from her or chase her out of town but these two were treating her like a normal girl, or as normal a girl with fox features can be treated.
It felt nice.
"Well I guess but you would have to ask her first." 'Having a Kitsune, a Kyuubi even, in your peerage would be a huge advantage.' thought Lady Phenex; some people have all the luck in the world.
"Kyra" Snapping said Kitsune out of her thoughts "Do you wanna come home with me and join my peerage?" asked Naruto with a huge smile on his face.
They want me to come with them? Me? But I thought everyone hated me, so why are they being nice? Then a voice in the back of her head made itself known 'Maybe there still good people out there.'
Tears.
She told herself she wouldn't cry anymore. She promised she wouldn't show anyone her tears. But she was so happy. She couldn't stop them. They flowed freely down her flushed face.
Seeing her cry, Naruto being Naruto, assumed he said something wrong "urm Kyra-chan did I say som-UFF" Kyra, now sat on top of Naruto drenching his shirt with her tears, had never been happier in her life.
On that day Naruto gained his first member of his peerage; Kyra his Queen.
(Flashback end)
'She's really come far from that frail little girl' Naruto thought looking Kyra while she's practicing her fox fire, shooting blue flames at some training dummies.
It turned out her parents died when she was baby and has been travelling between towns and villages to gather food. She would try and mingle with the humans there but they are fickle beings. If they don't understand something they fear it. If they fear it they hate it.
"Lost in your thoughts again?" he looked up at the voice of his mother "well since you seem to be so determined to slack off I guess I'll have to increase the training difficulty" She said with a sadistic smile.
Gulping rather loudly, Naruto took a few steps back from his mother who started to emit a rather frightening aura.
Sometimes it sucked being lazy.
Break (2 weeks later)
On his way to the Gremory Estate on his scheduled visit, Naruto would usually be more excited but lately he's had something on his mind, or rather someone.
Riser.
His arrogance has slowly been rising with each passing day and it's starting to grind Naruto a bit. Riser has always been arrogant but now he takes every opportunity to rub it in people's faces, even his family members. Thinking back, it started when that whole Rias business happened, and then increased again when he got Kyra as his queen. Is Riser jealous? But why would he be? He has more members in his peerage and he could probably get any girl he wanted.
"Naruto-sama?"
Turning to his left he sees his Queen, Kyra, sat next to him. Apparently she wanted to meet my 'so called fiancé' as she put it and decide if she's good enough for me. She thinks that only someone worthy may have my hand in marriage. Whatever that means.
Girls are weird.
Shaking his head a little he speaks to her in a calm voice "it's nothing just thinking." changing the subject before things get awkward he said "You didn't have to come with me you know."
Puffing out her cheeks a little with a small blush on her face she says "It's my duty as your Queen to make sure her intentions are pure. You never know she could be trying to steal the Phenex clan's secrets or even worse assassinate you!"
"Yes the Heir of the Gremory clan is trying to assassinate me..." Naruto replied dryly while giving her a deadpanned stare.
"My point still stands. She could be up to something and it's my job to find out what." She exclaimed with finality in her tone.
"Just don't do anything stupid..."
Break
"Why did I get out of bed this morning?" Naruto wondered out loud while staring at the scene in front of him with a tired gaze.
Kyra, in her sage like wisdom, announced that Rias, who was standing right in front of us at the time, wasn't good enough to be my fiancé and that I should find a different red head. Before I could ask what she meant Rias, who obviously was quite insulted by that remark, got in Kyra's face and...Well... now their rolling across the floor grappling each other.
"Shouldn't you intervene before it escalates further Phenex-san?" a voice made itself known from Naruto's left.
Turning his head he saw a young girl around the same age as Rias with black hair styled in a short bob cut and violet eyes that were covered by thick red glasses. She wore a plain dark blue top with a lighter blue skirt. This was Sona Sitri The heir to the Sitri clan.
"I probably should but I can't help but think that they need to get it out of their system..." he said still watching the girls roll around "plus it's entertaining to watch."
"As true as that may be, because of this Rias has stopped playing chess with me." Sona replied with a very small pout on her face that disappeared just as quickly as it came.
"I can play with you if you want." He offered while walking over to the chess board.
"You know how to play Phenex-san?""Call me Naruto"
"Huh?""I said call me Naruto, Phenex-san is to formal." Naruto said with small smile.
"And yes I do know how to play but if I'm a challenge to you, I couldn't really say."
Smiling slightly Sona took a seat on the opposite side of the board "Very well Naruto-san, but I'll warn you I won't go easy on you."
Sona learned the hard way to never challenge Naruto's luck.
Author's Notes:
So yeah if you can't tell I've decided to go with the Harem path. It wouldn't really be a DXD fic without a Harem. :P I wont say who I've already added for the Harem but there are some spaces available so suggestions are appreciated as always. Thank you for stopping by.